These seven tales create an intensely rich fictional world. Sometimes sinister and terrifying, it is often animated by brilliant humor and satire. Here Hoffmann paints his complex vision of humanity of men engaged in an unending struggle to establish his identity in a hostile, absurd, and surprisingly contemporary world. Fascination with abnormal psychological states, with doubles and the nature of duality, with alienated man, with dreams and the subconscious drives they represent, with co-existent realities all these anticipate twentieth-century concerns.

The stories included in this edition range from macabre fantasies to fairy tales and stories of crime. Leonard Kent and Elizabeth Knight have based their selection not only upon the literary merit of the works, but also upon the themes and motifs relevant to Hoffmann's development and his influence on literature of the past 150 years.

Contents:

• Ritter Gluck
• The Golden Pot
• The Sandman
• Councillor Krespel
• The Mines of Falun
• Mademoiselle de Scudéri
• The Doubles